4-09. The Carrier.

Lonely is arrested after swiping a bauble during a Section job.

Air Date: Apr. 26, 1972. Written by: Peter Hill. Directed by: Jonathan Alwyn. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


THE PLOT:

Peter Rose (Peter Copley) is a political idealist, of a type with whom The Section has become too familiar. He believes scientific information should be shared globally, and that it's immoral for one side to conceal such information. To that end, he has contacted Amstell (Ralph Nossek), a Dutch publisher with the right connections, with a plan to leak files from a top-secret project that he's working on to the Russians.

Rose doesn't realize that Amstell's real name is Tamaresh, and that he is a KGB assassin. He also doesn't know that his activities have been suspected. For Callan, it's a simple job: Break into Rose's house while he's away, photograph the files, and tap the scientist's phone so The Section can lay in wait for Tamaresh. Unfortunately, he takes Lonely along - which becomes a problem when the sticky-fingered burglar can't help but pocket an item that catches his eye...

Callan and Lonely photograph Professor Rose's files.

CHARACTERS:

Callan: When he calls Lonely to his apartment after he learns of the theft, he rails at the thief, making clear just how much danger Lonely's little stunt put both of them in. Callan's anger in this scene is raw and intense. This is a stark contrast to a later scene, in which Callan self-righteously snaps at Hunter for withholding information from another department. This latter exchange doesn't ring true, particularly when it wasn't that long ago that Callan was in the big chair and would have been forced to make the same decision. Woodward doesn't seem to believe in it either: His performance goes through the technical motions of mimicking anger, with no real sense of feeling behind the words.

Hunter: After Lonely's petty pocketing comes to light, Hunter forcefully reminds Callan that he holds him responsible for his friend's behavior. He is stern, and he allows no room for mistake about him being serious. But once that conversation is over, he returns to the business at hand. He gives no further recrimination, because he knows that none is needed.

Lonely: In the last episode, an irritated Hunter remarked that he was feeling a little tired of "our friend Lonely." Well, for the first time in the history of the series, this episode has me agreeing with him. I think the main culprit is a placement mistake. We needed at least a couple of episodes separating I Never Wanted the Job from this. Putting them back-to-back has the effect of reducing the character to the simple question of: How will Lonely mess up this week?

Meek Dutch publisher Amstell (Ralph Nossek) is
actually Tamaresh, a vicious KGB assassin!

THOUGHTS:

There are several examples of Callan episodes that overcome well-worn plots with outstanding character moments. The Carrier is the opposite. The character material here largely repeats beats from earlier in the season. But it still manages to be a decent episode on its own terms, because the Plot of the Week works quite well.

The opening Act takes up roughly half the episode, the centerpiece of which is the break-in by Callan and Lonely. This set piece is superb. The realism is heightened by the choice to have neither man speak at all. The audience is trusted to understand what they are doing based on the details shown.  They enter and use carpet tape to block off the gaps in the doors and curtains before turning on the lights. Callan uses a Polaroid camera to photograph Rose's desk before searching it; he uses the camera again when they find and open the safe. He records the data in Rose's files, then returns everything to its exact place. Tension is raised by cutaways to a policeman whose curiosity is aroused by Lonely's taxi parked nearby... and again, the policeman's suspicions are shown through his actions, with no need for dialogue.

The (very short) second Act mainly deals with the aftermath of Lonely's theft, with Hunter threatening Callan and Callan threatening Lonely... all of which we've seen before, making this the weakest part of the episode.  Then Tamaresh arrives, and the remaining running time follows two strands: Tamaresh as he makes his way to Rose, and Callan as he prepares for his enemy's arrival. It's well-paced and effective, with director Jonathan Alwyn delivering one more good set piece along the way.

In the end, the repetitive character material makes me think that it may not be bad that Callan is nearing its end. Even so, The Carrier still works as an episode, thanks to a story that is particularly well-told and brought to life by some smart directorial touches.


Overall Rating: 7/10.  I almost gave it a "6" for the weak character scenes... but the story really does work.

Previous Episode: I Never Wanted the Job
Next Episode: The Contract

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